Prime Minister Kishida is scheduled to interview four senior members of the Abe faction on the 26th and 27th before taking action against the relevant members regarding the issue surrounding the political funding party of a faction of the Liberal Democratic Party. Within the party, there is a growing view that harsh punishment against Abe faction leaders will be inevitable, given that former secretary-general Nikai has announced that he will not run in the next House of Representatives election.
Regarding this issue, former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Nikai stated on the 25th, ``I would like to once again deeply apologize for causing distrust in politics.Of course, all political responsibility lies with myself.'' announced his intention not to run for office.
Prime Minister Kishida said, ``I take this seriously as this move is intended to strongly encourage the Liberal Democratic Party to make a comeback.''
Within the party, there is a growing view that, based on Nikai's judgment, which was expected to be subject to punishment, ``severe punishment against Abe faction leaders is inevitable.''
Under these circumstances, the party executive is coordinating to decide on the punishment of the relevant members next week, and Prime Minister Kishida announced on the 26th and 27th that Abe's senior members, former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Shioya, former Chairman of the Political Affairs Research Council Shimomura, and former Keizai Nishimura. We plan to hold individual meetings and interviews with the Minister of Industry and former House of Councilors Secretary-General Seko.
The executive committee held that these four people were responsible for not stopping the kickbacks of party income given to factional members in August last year, but did not stop them. We are considering the above punishments and will make a decision based on the contents of the hearing.